Skyblog: Kobe trade scenarios

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

CL's Voice of Reason indeed.

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

CL's Voice of Reason indeed.

With Kobe it's a fear of never winning a title again. Challenges mean nothing to him - trying to go to the lesser conference on a ready made team says that about him. Garnett suffers for a decade and it's a tough, tough decision for him to leave. Kobe makes the playoffs two seasons in a row and cries to the media. He's my favorite athlete of all time, but he just doesn't have what it takes to be a true leader. Numerous athletes have endured much more pain and heartbreak, and yet, they keep their mouth shut and stay loyal.

Does Kobe have a reason for being upset? Of course. But dealing with the situation in the fashion that he did made me take a second look at his character. With that said, I'd still gut the team for Jermaine in an effort to keep the best PLAYER in the world on our team, but man, he has a lot of growing up to do if he wants to regain the respect of the fans. You just don't leave your team, franchise, and city in the dust after you run across the country.

You just don't.

mixtim - If Charlotte gave up Okafor in a Kobe deal their best remaining big is Walter Herrmann. Nice player but essentially a 3. The Bobcats cupboard would be beyond bare. If Kobe doesn't think he has bigs around him now, try Charlotte without Okafor.

Sky, if it comes down to the Bulls and the Rockets, but John Paxson refuses to add either Kirk Hinrich or Luol Deng in his offer, in you opinion...does the Lakers front office bite the bullet, take the young talent in Gordon, Thomas, and Picks, along with P.J. Brown (for contract purposes) and send Kobe east, or do they keep him west, and take McGrady back from Houston? Thanks.

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:With Kobe it's a fear of never winning a title again. Challenges mean nothing to him - trying to go to the lesser conference on a ready made team says that about him. Garnett suffers for a decade and it's a tough, tough decision for him to leave. Kobe makes the playoffs two seasons in a row and cries to the media. He's my favorite athlete of all time, but he just doesn't have what it takes to be a true leader. Numerous athletes have endured much more pain and heartbreak, and yet, they keep their mouth shut and stay loyal.

To say that Kobe is an incredibly spoiled athlete would be an understatement. He reminds me of those spoiled rich brats who think roughing it is sleeping in a tent outside their mansion. That's why I always gag when he starts with that BS about him "going to war" playing basketball and "strength and honor" as if he's a hostage somewheer in Iraq.

Venti Quattro wrote:Sky, if it comes down to the Bulls and the Rockets, but John Paxson refuses to add either Kirk Hinrich or Luol Deng in his offer, in you opinion...does the Lakers front office bite the bullet, take the young talent in Gordon, Thomas, and Picks, along with P.J. Brown (for contract purposes) and send Kobe east, or do they keep him west, and take McGrady back from Houston? Thanks.

I think they go for McGrady. His contract is up right in time for the market bull rush; if we deal Kobe, we can cheap spending until 2010. Until then, T-Mac helps the Lakers sell tickets, win some games, and *maybe* make the playoffs.

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

CL's Voice of Reason indeed.

With Kobe it's a fear of never winning a title again. Challenges mean nothing to him - trying to go to the lesser conference on a ready made team says that about him. Garnett suffers for a decade and it's a tough, tough decision for him to leave. Kobe makes the playoffs two seasons in a row and cries to the media. He's my favorite athlete of all time, but he just doesn't have what it takes to be a true leader. Numerous athletes have endured much more pain and heartbreak, and yet, they keep their mouth shut and stay loyal.

Does Kobe have a reason for being upset? Of course. But dealing with the situation in the fashion that he did made me take a second look at his character. With that said, I'd still gut the team for Jermaine in an effort to keep the best PLAYER in the world on our team, but man, he has a lot of growing up to do if he wants to regain the respect of the fans. You just don't leave your team, franchise, and city in the dust after you run across the country.

You just don't.

You perfectly summed up my feelings on this entire situation. Kobe was my favorite athlete before all of this nonsense. I get that he has to worry about his legacy, but I just cannot stand players DEMANDING trades. That is so much against the spirit of competition & comradery and I despise it beyond belief.

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

CL's Voice of Reason indeed.

With Kobe it's a fear of never winning a title again. Challenges mean nothing to him - trying to go to the lesser conference on a ready made team says that about him. Garnett suffers for a decade and it's a tough, tough decision for him to leave. Kobe makes the playoffs two seasons in a row and cries to the media. He's my favorite athlete of all time, but he just doesn't have what it takes to be a true leader. Numerous athletes have endured much more pain and heartbreak, and yet, they keep their mouth shut and stay loyal.

Does Kobe have a reason for being upset? Of course. But dealing with the situation in the fashion that he did made me take a second look at his character. With that said, I'd still gut the team for Jermaine in an effort to keep the best PLAYER in the world on our team, but man, he has a lot of growing up to do if he wants to regain the respect of the fans. You just don't leave your team, franchise, and city in the dust after you run across the country.

You just don't.

You perfectly summed up my feelings on this entire situation. Kobe was my favorite athlete before all of this nonsense. I get that he has to worry about his legacy, but I just cannot stand players DEMANDING trades. That is so much against the spirit of competition & comradery and I despise it beyond belief.

It's tough to explain how I feel about the situation. I don't want someone on this team that doesn't want to be here. But this is Kobe Bryant we are talking about. This isn't the Magic trading T-Mac, this is much different. If we do move him, and that's looking like the case, we are going to look back on this 10, 20, 30 years from now and wonder why on Earth we traded him. Ask the Bucks about trading Kareem. This a HOF talent who could go down as a top-10 player off all time. You don't trade those, period.

It truly is conflicting.

On RealGM Mavs fans said they'd do Howard, Terry, Harris, and 1sts for Kobe and Farmar

The LeBrons wrote:On RealGM Mavs fans said they'd do Howard, Terry, Harris, and 1sts for Kobe and Farmar

I mean, we ARE shorts on SF's and PG's, so why not?

The LeBrons wrote:On RealGM Mavs fans said they'd do Howard, Terry, Harris, and 1sts for Kobe and Farmar

We are lacking at the shooting guard spot, so this doesn't make sense.

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

CL's Voice of Reason indeed.

With Kobe it's a fear of never winning a title again. Challenges mean nothing to him - trying to go to the lesser conference on a ready made team says that about him. Garnett suffers for a decade and it's a tough, tough decision for him to leave. Kobe makes the playoffs two seasons in a row and cries to the media. He's my favorite athlete of all time, but he just doesn't have what it takes to be a true leader. Numerous athletes have endured much more pain and heartbreak, and yet, they keep their mouth shut and stay loyal.

Does Kobe have a reason for being upset? Of course. But dealing with the situation in the fashion that he did made me take a second look at his character. With that said, I'd still gut the team for Jermaine in an effort to keep the best PLAYER in the world on our team, but man, he has a lot of growing up to do if he wants to regain the respect of the fans. You just don't leave your team, franchise, and city in the dust after you run across the country.

You just don't.

good post. it bothers me that kobe has put me in a position to almost want him gone to end the drama.

i want people here who want to be lakers. the lakers have given kobe so much, from support to championships. yeah, we've had a down 3 years, but how many years was kobe in the championship mix? really, where is his perspective??

he's loosing me as well. and it hurts to say that. he's the best hands down, but he just hasn't shown the character necessary to be a great leader on and off the court.

al this talk about loyalty, but i have to question kobe's. he's loyal to himself and winning, which i can respect, as long as it is not to the detriment of our team, which in this case, it clearly is.

it's clear he's killing all of our morale. and you can blame this on mitch and buss all you want, but like it was said, how many other greats have never been in the position kobe has had with the lakers? it's his prime, and the organization is trying to walk a tight rope.

does anyone speak within this organization? it seems there is a great communication breakdown.

very, very disheartening. this is all so damn depressing.

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

CL's Voice of Reason indeed.

With Kobe it's a fear of never winning a title again. Challenges mean nothing to him - trying to go to the lesser conference on a ready made team says that about him. Garnett suffers for a decade and it's a tough, tough decision for him to leave. Kobe makes the playoffs two seasons in a row and cries to the media. He's my favorite athlete of all time, but he just doesn't have what it takes to be a true leader. Numerous athletes have endured much more pain and heartbreak, and yet, they keep their mouth shut and stay loyal.

Does Kobe have a reason for being upset? Of course. But dealing with the situation in the fashion that he did made me take a second look at his character. With that said, I'd still gut the team for Jermaine in an effort to keep the best PLAYER in the world on our team, but man, he has a lot of growing up to do if he wants to regain the respect of the fans. You just don't leave your team, franchise, and city in the dust after you run across the country.

You just don't.

You perfectly summed up my feelings on this entire situation. Kobe was my favorite athlete before all of this nonsense. I get that he has to worry about his legacy, but I just cannot stand players DEMANDING trades. That is so much against the spirit of competition & comradery and I despise it beyond belief.

It's tough to explain how I feel about the situation. I don't want someone on this team that doesn't want to be here. But this is Kobe Bryant we are talking about. This isn't the Magic trading T-Mac, this is much different. If we do move him, and that's looking like the case, we are going to look back on this 10, 20, 30 years from now and wonder why on Earth we traded him. Ask the Bucks about trading Kareem. This a HOF talent who could go down as a top-10 player off all time. You don't trade those, period.

It truly is conflicting.

I'd rather much trade a HOF talent, rather than having him walk off the squad with ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA, in return.

Thus, it easily becomes ESSENTIAL to trade a discontented player like Kobe Bryant, whether he's a future Hall of Famer or not.

I would have never thought I'd be saying this but, personally, I can't wait till he gets traded.

The irreparable damage he's inflicted to me as a fan has left me with nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth.

The silver spoon up Kobe's arse flickers ever so vividly now after the way he carried himself earlier this summer.

Intolerable, I tell ya.

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

Kobe Bryant 8 wrote:

mixtim wrote:Wouldn't that be a terrific challenge for his competitive nature?

Sticking with this team would be the ultimate test for Kobe.

CL's Voice of Reason indeed.

With Kobe it's a fear of never winning a title again. Challenges mean nothing to him - trying to go to the lesser conference on a ready made team says that about him. Garnett suffers for a decade and it's a tough, tough decision for him to leave. Kobe makes the playoffs two seasons in a row and cries to the media. He's my favorite athlete of all time, but he just doesn't have what it takes to be a true leader. Numerous athletes have endured much more pain and heartbreak, and yet, they keep their mouth shut and stay loyal.

Does Kobe have a reason for being upset? Of course. But dealing with the situation in the fashion that he did made me take a second look at his character. With that said, I'd still gut the team for Jermaine in an effort to keep the best PLAYER in the world on our team, but man, he has a lot of growing up to do if he wants to regain the respect of the fans. You just don't leave your team, franchise, and city in the dust after you run across the country.

You just don't.

You perfectly summed up my feelings on this entire situation. Kobe was my favorite athlete before all of this nonsense. I get that he has to worry about his legacy, but I just cannot stand players DEMANDING trades. That is so much against the spirit of competition & comradery and I despise it beyond belief.

It's tough to explain how I feel about the situation. I don't want someone on this team that doesn't want to be here. But this is Kobe Bryant we are talking about. This isn't the Magic trading T-Mac, this is much different. If we do move him, and that's looking like the case, we are going to look back on this 10, 20, 30 years from now and wonder why on Earth we traded him. Ask the Bucks about trading Kareem. This a HOF talent who could go down as a top-10 player off all time. You don't trade those, period.

It truly is conflicting.

Meh... If Kobe didn't luck out into playing with the most dominant big of his era, the best coach and for one of the greatest franchises in all of sports, he'd be talked about in the same breath as Dominique Wilkins or Allen Iverson or even T-Mac, not Jordan or Magic.

And frankly, trading a Dominique Wilkins or AI or T-Mac isn't nearly as earth-shattering. And neither will trading Kobe be. Let's not overrate the guy. For all his greatness we're still a barely mediocre team with him.

IMO the greater possibility is that we will look back after all those years and wonder why we didn't trade him sooner while his value was at its peak.

I know we all want Deng but I don't see it happening,not with Kobe's veto powers that is. However, we could probably get Hinrich and Gordon to go along with Ty Thomas, Duhon (or another player to even out the contracts) and picks for Kobe and Crittenton. With Hinrich at the point, that position would be filled for the next decade so Critt would become expendable. The Lakers would have a squad of Hinrich, Gordon, Odom, Thomas and Bynum. Is that too bad? I mean considering the situation we are currently in.

A Rush wrote:Meh... If Kobe didn't luck out into playing with the most dominant big of his era, the best coach and for one of the greatest franchises in all of sports, he'd be talked about in the same breath as Dominique Wilkins or Allen Iverson or even T-Mac, not Jordan or Magic.

And frankly, trading a Dominique Wilkins or AI or T-Mac isn't nearly as earth-shattering. And neither will trading Kobe be. Let's not overrate the guy. For all his greatness we're still a barely mediocre team with him.

IMO the greater possibility is that we will look back after all those years and wonder why we didn't trade him sooner while his value was at its peak.

Your posts are always great for a laugh. Kobe comparable to Iverson? Sure, in that they are both unstoppable scorers that have basicaly carried bad teams to the playoffs before. But Kobe lucked out to play with Shaq? Right, because Shaq won those championships ALL by himself. Kobe never did a thing, never helped in the finals when Shaq fouled out, never destroyed whole teams by himself in the 2001 playoffs, give me a break. For all his greatness we're still a mediocre team, maybe that's because without his greatness we're a bottom of the barell team, one man can only do so much, he's taken one of the worst defensive and all around scrub filled teams I've seen to the playoffs 2 years in a row basicaly by himself, that in itself is something. You want miracles from him, not gonna happen, can't win the finals by yourself, nobody ever has. Let's not overrate one of the best players to ever play either side of the court, right. You are right in the end though, we will look back and wonder why we didn't trade him sooner if we were simply content with mediocrity, why waste his talents here if we don't care to win? IMO had Kobe come in with Charlotte where he was drafted or any other not so great team he would have broken out even sooner not having to wait for playing time and he would have made a crappy team good, turned a franchise around, just like we saw with Chris Paul, LeBron James and others. He didn't get lucky, WE got lucky for trading for him, otherwise that 3-peat never happens.

Just my opinion, but...if the Lakers want to trade Kobe Bryant to the Eastern Conference, it will have to be to the Chicago Bulls with Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, a first-round draft selection, and possibly Chris Duhon along with a resigned P.J. Brown for salary purposes coming back to Los Angeles. John Paxson will not trade Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich. If the Lakers are not agreeable to this deal, they will be forced to trade him within the Western Conference, or they will watch him walk away getting absolutely nothing in return.

Sky, your thoughts?

A Rush wrote:Meh... If Kobe didn't luck out into playing with the most dominant big of his era, the best coach and for one of the greatest franchises in all of sports, he'd be talked about in the same breath as Dominique Wilkins or Allen Iverson or even T-Mac, not Jordan or Magic.

And frankly, trading a Dominique Wilkins or AI or T-Mac isn't nearly as earth-shattering. And neither will trading Kobe be. Let's not overrate the guy. For all his greatness we're still a barely mediocre team with him.

IMO the greater possibility is that we will look back after all those years and wonder why we didn't trade him sooner while his value was at its peak.

Thanks, I really needed that laugh to wake me up. Sure, Kobe Bryant played with the most dominant big man of his era, but what I am also sure of is that Shaquille O'Neal won zero of those three championships by himself. Kobe Bryant carried the Lakers for several multiple game stretches during the regualr season when the most dominant big man was healing on company time. He was also a major factor in playoff series' leading upto the finals as well as the finals.

Also, the reason the Lakers are a mediocre team is because of the greatness of Kobe Bryant. If he was not on this team and was replaced with Allen Iverson or Tracy McGrady, this team would be a perennial contender for winning the draft lottery.

This franchise has been lucky to have a player of his cailber, who has helped keep them afloat while management has been making one bad decision after another.

Venti Quattro =

Very well said. It's disturbing how people on a Lakers board talk of trading Kobe so casually.

Lots of people want to trade Bryant just to end the drama.

That's just not a good enough reason to accept any sub-par suggestion I've read so far..

The only question I have about Kobe walking in 2 years is his options will be limited because few teams will have the salary cap space to sign him. Why will he not have to go to a team he doesn't want to or depend on Lakers for Sign and Trade?

SignPippenNow wrote:The only question I have about Kobe walking in 2 years is his options will be limited because few teams will have the salary cap space to sign him. Why will he not have to go to a team he doesn't want to or depend on Lakers for Sign and Trade?

Every single team will have the mid-level exception. Kobe Bryant would most likely sign a five-year deal worth the entire mid-level exception with the ability to option out after three seasons, making him eligible to sign for the maximum. But honesty, I believe it will not get to that point...he will be traded by this time next season.

Venti Quattro wrote:Every single team will have the mid-level exception. Kobe Bryant would most likely sign a five-year deal worth the entire mid-level exception with the ability to option out after three seasons, making him eligible to sign for the maximum. But honesty, I believe it will not get to that point...he will be traded by this time next season.

Hell will freeze over before Kobe signs anywhere for the MLE. He's far too money-oriented. According to Phil's book, Kobe was the sole player in the league who voted against the CBA because of the cap it put on maximum salaries.

richsmith wrote:Hell will freeze over before Kobe signs anywhere for the MLE. He's far too money-oriented. According to Phil's book, Kobe was the sole player in the league who voted against the CBA because of the cap it put on maximum salaries.

I hadn't heard that before, wow, that's hilarious. No way he was the ONLY players in the league who voted that way for that reason though, there's tons of greedy guys in the NBA.